House hearing on TBAS cut short… but maybe not short enough

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The House Government Operations committee hearing yesterday morning was cut short after the House legal counsel interrupted the hearing without notifying the chair and addressed the committee about some legal issues.

It was in the middle of the House hearing with former Chief Financial Officer Nate Clayville and local businessman Timothy ’Tim’ Jones, who has a pending lawsuit against TBAS for breach of contract related to ATM machines, when House legal counsel, Nathaniel Savali walked inside the chamber, sat on a chair belonging to one of the faipule and addressed the committee while Faipule Ape Mike Asifoa had the floor.

The legal counsel told the committee that there are House rules and procedures to guide the committee with its hearings, especially when it deals with statements made against the bank, the governor or the government.

The legal counsel then offered his advice to the committee that they should stop the hearing and dismiss the witnesses.

The committee chair Faipule Faimealelei Anthony Fu’e Allen was very disappointed and said that he’s the committee chair and if anyone wants to speak, that person has to come through the chair.

Vice Speaker of the House, Hon. Fetu Fetui Jr quickly broke in and apologized to the committee chair for what had just happened — the House legal counsel interrupting the hearing.

He blamed himself for it, saying it was his fault in allowing the House legal counsel to interfere during the hearing. He further explained that the reason why he asked the legal counsel to come inside and address the committee was because he wanted the committee not to touch the legal issue between Mr. Jones and TBAS, which is pending before the court.

Fetu turned to the two witnesses and reminded them that the House committee is not an investigating entity nor a courthouse.

“This is the House chamber and we have rules and guidelines to guide the committee with their hearing,” Fetu said.

Faipule Asifoa who still had the floor moved for a motion to dismiss the witnesses and leave the committee to deal with the issue on hand.

The motion was seconded by several faipule and was unanimously  passed by members of the committee.

Faippule Larry Sanitoa said that the House is not an investigative chamber but rather serves an oversight role for government operations. Referring to businessman Tim Jones, Sanitoa said that the court is the right venue for him to settle his dispute with TBAS, not the committee.

While speaking, Sanitoa was interrupted by Faimealelei.

Faimealelei said he clearly stated to the committee and the witnesses before Sanitoa walked inside the chamber that the committee is not the court nor an investigative committee.

The House legal counsel then apologized to the chair and the committee for what happened. He thought that the issue had been discussed between the chair and Fetu before he came in.

Sanitoa refreshed members of the committee about the information they had discovered about the bank. He then recommended that the only answer to the problem is to introduce a resolution to amend the statute that established the bank to make it more solid.

THE HEARING

Prior to the interruption, Jones and Clayville did share some of their insights about TBAS’s service in American Samoa, with the committee.

Clayville, who was the CFO for TBAS for one year, told the committee that he was fired by the TBAS CEO and President, David Buehler without cause.

He said that during the time of his employment, he offered some advice to Buehler regarding the issue of off-island loans and the next thing he knew, he received a termination letter from Buehler that ended his service.

Fetu, who was not satisfied with what happened to Clayville, told witnesses and the committee that he’s still not happy with the TBAS CEO because of what he did to some of the bank’s employees including his two daughters.

“Did he (Buehler) fire you because of your advice regarding off island loans?” Fetu asked Clayville.

Clayville replied that he believes it is one of the many reasons why he was fired.

Fetu said that based on his understanding, TBAS is a government bank and the people’s bank.

“This man (Buehler) has violated the rights of our people and we must be very careful of what this man is doing to our people and our children.”

Jones when he began to offer testimony regarding TBAS’s service was advised not to go too deeply into information regarding his lawsuit against TBAS, because the committee is not a courthouse nor an investigating committee.

Jones claims that TBAS has breached a business agreement he had with them for the operation of ATM machines owned by his company, Rising Nine.

He also claims that during the time when ANZ and Bank of Hawaii ATMs always ran out of cash on weekends, Rising Nine succeeded in launching a private chain of ATMs in stores around American Samoa in 2017.

This was after a great deal of time and effort in negotiating an agreement with Meta Bank. The intent of that agreement was to primarily help military veterans on island access their benefit payments that were being deposited in mainland bank accounts as well as fill in the short fall of empty ANZ and BoH ATMs on island every weekend.

The key to the network connectivity of Rising Nine’s ATMs was a VISA/MasterCard Regional Operating Certificate use-permit.

Another company Jones owns, Endless Power, serviced Rising Nine’s ATMs locally.

As he was trying to explain his issues with TBAS, Fetu interrupted and advised him again not to go further because he doesn’t want to let this committee hearing ruin Jone’s case pending before the court.

Samoa News will report more on other issues discussed during the hearing next week.